Take notes from musical jazz history lesson in Abilene tonight

How much: Free, although donations will be accepted for a youth jazz band in Uganda

People may not realize it, but they’ll be getting a musical history lesson at tonight’s Abilene Christian University Jazz Band Concert.

The free concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium on the ACU campus.

Unlike in years past, tonight’s concert won’t have a specific theme, said Derek Brown, director of jazz studies at ACU.

“I guess that’s a good thing if you don’t happen to like the theme that’s picked,” Brown said. “This concert will run the gamut. It’s really the history of jazz.”

The concert will consist of the 17-piece jazz band (five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones and a four-piece rhythm section) and two five-piece ensembles.

The highlight of the large band’s performance may be its rendition of “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” Brown said.

“It’s the traditional song of a New Orleans funeral,” he said. “It’s powerful. It starts out mournful and then becomes a party.”

The concert also will feature swing-era pieces as well as contemporary selections, such as Maria Schneider’s “Cerulean Skies,” which will feature bird calls and musicians trying to imitate the bird calls on their instruments.

Brown also said the concert will feature a melodica, sort of a modified harmonica with a keyboard, and vocalese, in which a singer sings melody with sounds instead of words, as singer-writer Bobby McFerrin does.